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W. W. HOLLA W D ANTICREEPER Filed July 28, 1925 2 Sheets-Shee't 1 Jan. 12 1926.

art want Patented Jan. 12, 1926.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM W. HOLLAND, OF WOOD RIVER, ILLINOIS.

ANTICREEPER.

l Application filed .l'uly 23, 1925.

To (:31 whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM \V. Hon LAND, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the city of \Vood River, county of Madison, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and. useful Improvements in Anticreepers, of which the following is a specification.

The present device is in the nature of an improvement on the anti-creepers described 3 b in my prior United States Patents LTOS.

1,081,305 and 1,420,703.

\Vhilc a great deal of time and money have been spent in the improvement of rail fastenings and anti-creepers, nothing which is really effective has been produced which has not proved too expensive for general acceptance by the railroads.

The present invention relates to an anticreeper which is believed to be effective and practical and capable of production and application at a total cost which makes it available for general use. It may be used with. or without a tie plate.

The device consists of a cam lock embodying some of the features disclosed in my previous patents, the cam being a rotary member of varying radius, the increase of radius being utilized to force the rail with a wedging action against an abutment which may be integral with the tie plate or may be in the'form of one or more spikes on the opposite side of the rail. The locking position of the cam is such that creeping of the rail increases the pressure of the cam against the rail flange. The cam member is held in locked position by a spike which may engage the rail immediately adjacent the looking surface back of what may be termed the butt of the wedge or by a spike having a twist or helical portion of an exceedingly steep angle resembling a screw which ongages an eye in the cam and rotates the same toward locking position or preferably by both said means.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated a fragment of rail with tie and tie plate, the rail being locked to the tie plate by an anti-creeper embodying the features of my invention in the preferred form.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a transverse section through a rail showing the tie plate and anti-creeper .i n elevation.

Serial No. 46,519.

Figure 3 is a section corresponding to Figure 1 showing the anti-crceper without the tie plate.

Figure 4 is a plan of the anti-creeper shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a section corresponding to Figure 1 showing a tie plate and anti creeper in operation, the anti-creeper being slightly different from that of Figures 1 and 3 having a heel which adapts it to operate with the tie plate and which engages the tie to prevent release.

Figure 6 is a plan of the anti-creeper of this form.

Figure 7 is an end view of the same, looking from the right in Figure 5 showing the tie in section.

Figure 8 is an elevation of a spike adapted to rotate the anti-creeper to locked position and hold it in locked position, the same hav ing the upper and lower portions of its shank turned or twisted relatively to each other about the axis of the spike, forming the corners of the spike into what may be termed a quadruple thread of exceedingly steep and long pitch.

Figure 9 is a plan of the spike.

' Referring to the drawings by numerals, each of which is used to indicate the same or similar parts in the different figures, and having particular reference to the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 and. 2, I have shown a rail 1, the base or flange 2 of which rests on a tie-plate 3. The tie plate has an upright abutment or shoulder 4 near one end, which engages one edge of the rail flange 2, the abutment being on the left in Figure 1. The tie plate and rail flange are held at the left by spikes 5 which are passed through suitable holes 6 in the tie-plate, and the heads 7 of which take over the edge of the flange. The rail flange held at the other side by means of a spike 8 and cum 9. The latter has a flanged hawking or wcdging surface 10 of increasing radius about the centre 11, the point 12 being of the least radius, the radius increasing from the point 12 to the point 14 of greatest radius. The flange 15 already referred to projects horizontally from the upper portion of the looking surface 10, the bottom of the flange at 16 being preferably out on a suitable angle to conform to the top surface 17 of the rail flange or base. 1

The cam member 9 is set with the point 12 of least radius of the locking surface il l) in direct contact with the longitudinal edge 18 of the rail flange on the side opposite to the shoulder l of the tie plate. The cam 9 as shown in Figures 1 and 2 is provided with a circular heel or hub 20 concentric with the spike hole 21, which is formed to fit the cross-section of the spike, allow ing a very slight degree of play for convenience in driving and setting the spike. A shallow hole 22 is bored in the tie, the centre being spaced from the edge of the flange by a distance equal to the radius of the point 12, i. e., the point of least radius, and the cam is then placed with its hub or heel 20 in the hole 22, the point 12 of least radius bearing on the nearest portion of the adjacent edge of the rail flange or base.

A specially constructed spike 24 is then driven through the hole 21 in the hub or heel 20 of the cam. The peculiar feature of the spike resides as already outlined in the steep thread formed in this instance by the twist or turn of the upper portion 25 relatively to the lower portion 26, the same having a twist or turn of about an eighth of a circle, i. e., through an arc corresponding to the arc of the cam and in a direction opposite to that of the increase in radius of the cam, i. e., in Figures 1 and 2 the radius of the cam increases counterclockwise and the spike at has about an eighth of a turn downward to the right, forming intermediately of the length of the spike at 28 what might be termed a quadruple, right-hand thread of extremely long pitch relatively to the diameter, the corners of the spike being the peaks of the threads. The driving of this spike through the hole 21 which may be square or angiillar corresponding to the cross-section of the spike, rotates the cam member about its centre hub or heel 22, or tends to rotate it to the right, i. 0., clockwise through an angle corresponding to the angle at which the spike is turned, and therefore serves to set the cam, bringing the point 18 of greatest radius into contact with the edge of the rail flange or base.

The rotation of the cam forces the rail tightly against the abutment 4E, and the spikes 5, locking it in position. The cam is set as shown in Figure 2 with the point 1-iof greatest radius of the cam approaching in the direction of rotation of the cam the point 29 of least distance of the rail liange from the cam centre. As so placed it serves as a most effective anti-creeping device, as the rail cannot move in the direction of rotation of the cam without being subjected by the cam to still further pressure. It will be noted that-the overhang 30 of the spike head fits in a corresponddepression 31 in the gain serving to still further lock the parts in their final relation. The spike then driven at the side of the rail flange adjacent the locking cam and. immediately in contact with the same on the side opposite to the direction of rotation in setting, holding the cam rigidly in set or locked position. This completes the operation of installing the anti-creeper. Preferably the spike is of the regular type, having an overhang 33 at one side which overlies and grips the edge of the rail flange.

In Figures 5, 6 and 7 I have illustrated an anti-creeper earn 9 shown in connection with a tie-plate 3, though the tie-plate is not regarded as essential to the use of any of the anti-creepers disclosed. This anticreeper cam 9 is shown as provided with a heel 35 having an inclined lower edge 36, the downwardly disposed point 37 of the inclined edge being to the rear in the direction of rotation of the heel as the cam is locked. The heel 35 as shown is straight or flat instead of circular, as is the heel or hub 22 illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The anti-creeper cam illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7 has an eye or hole 21 for the spike similar to that illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, and a special spike is used at this point as illustrated at 24 in Figure 5. The manner of setting is similar to that described in connection with Figures 1 and 2 except that the cam 9, shown in Figures 5, 6 and 7, is driven home by means of a sledge to set the edge 37 in the tie 38, and this edge con.- tributes to the locking effect in that it prevents backward rotation of the cam which is necessary to release the rail. This anticreeper cam, as already intimated, is not only rotated to locked position by driving the spike 24': but is preferably held in locked position by a spike 82 driven back of the locking edge in the direction of rotation after the manner of the spike 32 in Figure 2, and as aforesaid it is held against rota tion by point 87 of heel 35.

In Figures 3 and 4- I have shown still another form of anti-creeper cam 4-0 especially designed for use without the tie-plate. This anti-creeper cam has no hub or heel corresponding to the heels 20 and 35. it is rotated to locked position by means of the special spike 24 already described. by driving the same through the square hole 21, and it is finally in the preferred method of setting. locked in position by a spike corresponding to the spike 32 driven back of it, i. e., on the side toward which it must rotate in releasing, or what may be termed back of it in the direction of rotation.

The special spike in the preferred form thereof, is separately illustrated in Figures 8 and 9. The spike as shown is of square cross-section and has lower portion 26 and an upper portirui oi the shank, the lower portion being t n ncd about one eighth of a turn righthanded or clockwise relatively to the upper portion forming the corners or edges oi. the square spike into a quadruple righthand thread 01'? steep incline or pitch, the same being indicated at 4:3 in Figure 8. This spike when driven through the srpiare hole or when driven tl'irough a hole o'l corrosponding cross-s" tion, provided it is out of round so as to prevei'it relative rotation of the parts, rotates the cum member through a corresponding are, as shown and der 'ribed, about one ei hth oi a rerolutioi'i, and servesas atort l to brii'ig the high part or the greatest radius of the cam into m ugement with the edge the rail flange base, placing the cam in looking post" will be noted, however, that the point oi" greatest radi s indicated by reference character It in Figure 2 does not more to the point 39 which is the shortest distance from the centre of the locking cam. l l hen placed as shown the locking cam offers the greatest possible resistance to creeping ot the rail in the direction in which the cam is set, as the edge 4 cuts into the rail base edge and any motion. of the rail in this direction tends to bring the contact point 1-1 and the point of greatest radius into the position now occupied by the point 29 in which the edge oi? the rail tiange or base is nearest to the centre of the cam, which cannot be accomplished without breaking the cam or a very considerable yielding ot the cam heel or the tie plate or the spikes G at the oplfiosite side of the rail flange.

A manner oi" installing and the operation (it the anti-creeper has been fully described in connection with the description of the device itself.

l have thus described specifically and, in detail preferred and modified forms of the device in order that the nature and operation of the same may be clearly understood; however, the specilic terms herein are used descriptively rather than in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention. being defined in the claims.

llhat I. claim and desire to secure by Letters iteot is:

l. ill rail clamp conu'n'ising a cam having migaging surface of gradually increasing radius about the: cam axis, a spike having projecting longitudinal edges and having its end portion including said edges turned at an angle about its axis oppositely to the direction oi? increase of the cam radius, and a hole at the axis of the cam to receive the spike, and means on the cam for causing the cam to maintain a fixed an ;ular position relatively to the spike.

2. A rail clamp comprising a cam having an engaging surface 01? gradually inil ll angular position relatively to the spike, thecam having a downwardly projecting portion adjacei'it the hole.

3. it rail clamp comprising a cam hav ing an engaging surface of gradually increasing radius about the cam axis, a spike having projecting longitudinal edges and having its end portion including said edges turned at an angle about its axis oppositely to the direction of increase of the cam radius, and a hole at the axis of the cam to receive the spike, and means on the cam for causing the cam to maintain a fixed angular position relatively to the spike, the cam having a downwardly projecting portion adjacent the hole said portion having a downwardly projecting edge with a flat surface parallel to the cam axis and disposed in the direction of increase of radius of the engaging surface.

4. The combination with a railway rail and tie of an abutment engaging the tie and rail base on one side of the latter, a locking cam of increasing radius engaging the other side of the rail, means securing the cam to the tie and forcing it against the rail, and means engaging the tie and the cam on the side toward the increase of radius of the latter, preventing release of the cam.

5. The combination with a railway rail and tie of an. abutment engaging the tie and rail base on one side of the latter, a locking cam of increasing radius engaging the other side of the rail, means securing the cam to the tie and it'oroing it against the rail, and a spike driven into the tie in immediate contact with the cam on the side toward the increased radius.

6. The combination with a railway rail and tie of an abutment engaging the tie and rail base on one side of the latter, a locking cam oi incieasing radius engaging the other side of the rail, means serurii'ig the'cam to the tie and forcing it against the rail, and a spike driven into the tie in immediate contact with the cam on the side toward the increased radius, the spike also taking over the edge of the rail flange.

7. The combination with a rail and a tie oi a tie plate supporting the rail on the tie and an abutment on one side of the rail, a locking cam engaging the opposite side of the rail, the cam having an increas ing radius about its axis with an aperture therein, the spike having longitudinally extencing projecting port-ions and engaging means therefor in the cam aperture, the said projecting portions being turned about the spike in a direction opposite to the in crease in radius of the ca1n,'the cam also having a heel seated in the tie.

8. The combination With a rail and a tie, oi. a tie plate supporting the rail on the tie and an abutment on one side of the 'rail a lockin cain en a in the o )osite 7 b b b D side of the rail, the cam having an increasing radius about its axis with an aperture therein, the spike having longitudinally eX- tending projecting portions and engaging moans therefor in the cam aperture, the said projecting portions being turned about the spike in a direction opposite to the in crease in radius of the cam, the cam also having a heel seated in the tie, with means engaging the tie for preventing rotation of the cam in the direction of the increase of radius.

9. The combination with a rail and a tie, of a tie plate supporting the rail on the tie and an abutment on one side of the rail, a locking cam engaging the opposite side of the rail, the cam having an increasing radius about its axis with an aperture therein, the spike having longitudinally extending projecting portions and engaging means therefor in the cam aperture, the said projecting portions being turned about the spike in a direction opposite to the increase in radius of the cam, the cam also having a heel seated in the tie with means engaging the tie for preventing rotation of the cam in the direction of the increase of radius, and means engaging the tie and cam on the side toward the increase of radius preventing rotation of the cam in that direction.

Signed by me at WVood River, Madison County, Illinois, this 24th day of J uly, 1925.

WILLIAM W. HOLLAND. 

